


Let's Move Into Our Old House

by stylindad



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: M/M, Pet au, just realized i dont even meniton niall lol sorry bb, kind of a Uni AU not really, old house au, pet dad! zayn, realtor! liam, super briefly mentioned louis/harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-20 01:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12421821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stylindad/pseuds/stylindad
Summary: “He’s your son now!” Harry said, clapping his hands together before he leaned over to give some butt scratches to the dor.“What? Son?”“Oh, that’s his name! Watson!” Harry insisted. He grabbed onto Zayn’s shoulders and shook him a bit. “You need to keep him, Z! He’s perfect.”It did worry Zayn, the thought that something big was going to change in his life with the arrival of a new pet. He loved his job, loved his friends, didn’t think he was ready to start a relationship.In the end the change was none of those things. It happened the day after getting Watson, and began with a knock on the door.---Zayn is a Uni dropout/inventor/pet dad who is suddenly surprised by the death of his great aunt, who left her entire house in his name. There is one catch, though (and no, it's not Liam the realtor).





	Let's Move Into Our Old House

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to alex for the amazing prompt and art that goes with this fic (found in the tumblr posts)
> 
> title from 'pumping up clouds' 
> 
> rebloggable post on tumblr[ HERE](http://larrystylingsun.tumblr.com/post/166584396647/lets-move-into-our-old-house-hes-your-son-now) and HERE (coming soon)
> 
> this is my second fic in general, please let me know what you think!!

Zayn had always been an animal person. It probably started when he was around three, he’d go to the local park and just sit on the bench to watch the animals run around. His sisters would play on the swings and slides, but he was enthralled by the squirrels that chased each other. He’d always ask to take one of them home, but his mum would just laugh and shake her head. They’d return home for dinner and he’d dream about living the forest with his animal friends.

The day that his primary school classroom got a pet hamster was possibly one of the best days of Zayn’s life. Finally, he could watch an animal all day without having to worry about his sisters whining to go home before he was done. Every morning he would run into the classroom to the cage, hands spread wide across the glass as his nose dug in and condensation collected. It was a little uncomfortable, but it was worth it to see the way the hamster ran or gulped water. He would stay like that until class started and his teacher told him to go to his seat.

Some days he would spend the whole six hours just staring at the hamster, imagine what it would be like to be that carefree and small and loveable. After about the tenth time getting caught and reprimanded for not paying attention his parents were called in. During the car ride home his dad reminded him how important his studies were, that education was the most valuable thing he could ever have. He’d never seen his dad look so disappointed.

The next morning Zayn walked into the classroom and watched the hamster from a respectful distance, smiling softly. Three weeks later it died. Zayn refused to let himself cry over it.

Unlike animals, pleasing people was always a struggle for Zayn. He wanted to do his best, to make his family and his teachers proud. So he tried to focus on his studies instead of animals, completed math equations instead of sketching animals. Eventually he became one of the top in his class for math and science.

That was when he started making inventions. By the time he was thirteen, Zayn had a business running in the school yard. Someone would give him a pack of pencils and the next day Zayn would return with a homemade catapult, complete with eraser ammo. He made pencil cases from juice pouches, stickers from dried glue, and keychains from paperclips. 

As the years passed he got better at inventing, making contraptions that his family could use to complete chores. When he turned sixteen his dad bought him his own laptop to program robots on and a week later the robot was getting the paper from their driveway.

When Zayn turned seventeen he started thinking about Uni. His mum suggested a local school; his dad suggested London. He’d been a few times to visit his great aunt during the summer, and it was nice enough. So he applied to both schools, and was given a full ride to the University of London. He was excited, but also extremely nervous to be leaving Bradford. 

The day he moved into his new dorm he noticed a rabbit laying outside his window and he didn’t feel so lonely after all.

The first few semesters were fairly uneventful. Zayn went to class, went to parties, wrote papers, drank, pulled all nighters, lost his virginity, aced his finals. It was around the end of his second year that something changed. Inventing wasn’t fun anymore, there were too many rules and too many restrictions. He’d nearly failed a course because he had made a machine too advanced and the professor claimed he had to have cheated. 

He went home for the summer, tried to pretend for his sisters and parents that he was happy, when all that he wanted to do was hide in his bed and never go back.

When the bill for his next year arrived he tore it up on the spot.

He didn’t answer emails from his professors about scheduling, didn’t register for a dorm, didn’t answer the phone when his job at the tutoring center called asking if he’d return.

Zayn didn’t tell his parents, couldn’t bear to see the disappointment on their faces when he admitted that engineering wasn’t for him anymore. So he just packed his bags, acted like everything was normal and returned to London in the fall.

Since his parents weren’t paying tuition anyway lying to them was simple enough. He was able to talk two of his mates, Louis and Harry, into letting him join in on their apartment that was near campus. His parents sent him rent and food money, and he spent the fall semester of what would have been his junior year trying to fall in love with inventing again.

It was nice, to be able to create things without the extreme deadlines, pressure and rules. His roommates were appreciative of his gadgets, too, since he found ways to cook meals and clean the toilets with a mess of pulleys and levers. Life was good again.

Eventually Zayn accepted that he needed to let his parents know the truth. He sat down on his bed and wrote an email to them, explaining the situation and how happy he was again. 

A few minutes after he hit send he heard a bark from outside. He looked out the window and there sat a puppy, big eyes staring up at Zayn as he sat on top of a trash can. 

After a week of trying to find his owner, Zayn decided to adopt the dog and take care of him. Harry ended up naming him Rhino, and it stuck. They became almost inseparable. Rhino was there when Zayn’s parents called him and they fought on the phone. He was there when Zayn panicked and re enrolled in school. He licked away Zayn’s tears when he dropped out again the next day.

It was a rough winter, Zayn opted to spend the break at the flat alone with Rhino while Harry and Louis both went home. It was nice, being able to finally have an animal that was his, that he could hold and nurture like he’d always longed to. He started to make inventions for Rhino, toys and treat rewards. They made the perfect pair.

When spring semester started Zayn ended up getting a job, since his parents would only agree to pay for half his rent instead of the full thing. He ended up working at a local pet store. His job was technically to help customers and stock the shelves, but he ended up making it more about observing the pets and holding them. He loved it, and at the end of the day he got to go home to his three best friends (one of them being Rhino).

His life was simple, he didn’t mind that he was working for minimum wage because he was happy. A year passed, and Harry was finally graduating from Uni. They’d discussed it, and with his saving Zayn was able to stay in their flat by himself comfortably enough. It was hard to lose his two roommates, but he had Rhino to keep him company.

The day that Harry officially moved out was the day that Arnie came into his life. That night at work Zayn was helping to move the new shipment of pets into the store, when one of his co workers accidentally lifted the lid of a terrarium. A lizard quickly slithered his way out, and ended up on Zayn’s shoulder. Zayn just laughed and gave the lizard a few pets to the head. Soon enough he was filling out adoption papers in the back.

The animals didn’t really stop after that. Somehow he kept attracting new pets to fill his once empty flat. After Arnie came a Pomeranian he named Hatchi who found him when he was stressed about not getting a promotion to manager at work. Next was a large orange cat who wandered into Zayn’s life after he was laid off. A few fish from a local carnival, a snail found in his garden when he started it, and a snake adopted from his new job at the local shelter.

They all meant the world to him, and he loved every second that they all spent together. He felt like he was regaining a part of his childhood, the part where he had tried to shut out animals. Finally things were starting to feel right by the time he turned twenty three.

The flat was filled with all sorts of inventions that he had made. He had timers set up to ropes and switches so that the dogs and cats were fed properly. He made new techniques to feed his snake because he always got a little squeamish about holding the mice, even with tongs. His favorite invention was the one that changed the litter box for him, and he programmed a robot to take it out to the trash.

Maybe the house was a little cluttered, and he had to duck down to get around sometimes because of all the wires and ropes, but it worked for all of them. They all loved each other, and even when he was at work he didn’t have to worry about them getting into trouble.

His life had been fairly steady for a few months, and no new animals had popped up. They always seemed to find him when they needed him the most. That was why he was a little scared when he got a call from Harry.

\----

Zayn had just gotten home from work, cracked open a beer so that he could relax and watch some Netflix while cuddling with his pets. Halfway into an episode of Friends he saw his phone light up. He was close to ignoring it, but Honey the chihuahua kept barking at the noise. 

He groaned and paused the video in the middle of one of Monica’s rants, stretching his hand out to try and find his phone without actually looking. After grabbing onto Arnie by accident and apologizing profusely with kisses and compliments, he picked up the phone.

“Hello?” Zayn asked, hoping that he didn’t sound too annoyed. He loved to talk to Harry, especially since he lived all the way across town. But he also loved to watch reruns of old shows.

“Z, you have to come help! We found him on the side of the road. You know Lou and I are kind of shit at dealing with these things.”

Zayn furrowed his eyebrows together, sitting up a bit and jostling Hatchi from his lap. The dog yapped and then jumped down, opting to trot over to the fish tank and curl up under it.  
“What’s happening, Harry?”

“There’s a dog here. He’s huge, bigger than Louis almost. He was just sitting in the road and we can’t get him into the car to take him to a shelter or anything.”

“Yeah, you were right to call me,” Zayn replied with a nod. A new dog in need of help made his stomach knot a bit. “Share your location with me and I’ll be there.”

\----

Twenty minutes later the three of them were standing on the opposite side of the road as the dog, a large hound, each holding their hands out with treats to try and lure him over. Luckily there wasn’t any traffic heading in either direction so it was fairly safe. Their cars were blocking the roads just in case someone was to show up, though.

“Come on, boy,” Zayn murmured, taking a step closer and crouching down. “We just want to help you out, bud.”

The dog ran in circles, tongue sticking out as he panted. He seemed full of energy, like he would much prefer to play than to be taken care of.

“Why’s he out here? There aren’t many houses, it’s pretty much countryside,” Harry called, the worry in his voice evident.

“Maybe someone abandoned him,” Louis suggested in a hushed tone, as if he didn’t want to even suggest the idea of someone leaving such a beautiful dog.

Zayn nodded, lips pursed together. “Probably, yeah. Think that’s why he wants to play, he doesn’t understand what happened. He’s healthy, so he was taken care of. And he isn’t scared of us which suggests he wasn’t mistreated.”

The dog barked again, wagging his tail eagerly.

“Do you still play tennis, Harry?” Zayn asked, not bothering to glance back to him.

“Uh, yeah? But is this really the time to be catching up on things, mate?”

“You have tennis balls in the car, then?”

There was a beat of realization before Harry was opening the door to his jeep and pulling out a tennis ball. He walked back over to Zayn, placing it in the man’s open palm.

Zayn smiled a bit, shaking the ball so that it got the dog’s attention. He threw it then, making it a short enough distance that the dog wouldn’t have to run more than he could to catch it, but long enough that he could make sure no limbs were broken.

The dog raced after the ball, long legs stretching out to help him jump and catch the ball midair. Zayn beamed back to him, patting his leg to try and get the dog to return to him. It worked, and within seconds there was a slobbering hound by his face, pushing the ball into him to try and get another catch.

“Good lad!” Louis exclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Me or the dog?” Zayn replied with a laugh, scratching behind the dog’s ears and making faces to him.

“Both,” Louis said simply.

“He’s your son now!” Harry said, clapping his hands together before he leaned over to give some butt scratches.

“What? Son?”

“Oh, that’s his name! Watson!” Harry insisted. He grabbed onto Zayn’s shoulders and shook him a bit. “You need to keep him, Z! He’s perfect.”

After a few more rounds of fetch Zayn was able to get the dog into his car. He said goodbye to the others, promising to send them updates when he dropped their rescue off at the shelter in the morning.

When he got home he found himself calling the dog Watson on accident. The next morning he woke up to find all four of his dogs puppy-piled on top of the hound. He decided then that he’d keep Watson.

It did worry Zayn, the thought that something big was going to change in his life with the arrival of a new pet. He loved his job, loved his friends, didn’t think he was ready to start a relationship.

In the end the change was none of those things. It happened the day after getting Watson, and began with a knock on the door.

\----

It was a Saturday afternoon, Zayn had finally gotten out of bed around noon and decided to make breakfast for himself. After making enough coffee for three people he headed back to the couch to try and finish the episode of Friends that he’d started. All of the animals got into their usual favorite spots, with Watson right next to him, head on his shoulder. It was oddly nice to finally have a big dog in his life. 

Only a few minutes in there was a knock on the door, luckily most of his pets were calm enough to just ignore it in favor to sleep.

“Thank you,” he whispered to all of them, slowly pushing himself up. On the way to the door he grabbed himself a shirt so that he wasn’t just in sweatpants, and he slipped it over his head. 

Once he got to the door he pressed his eyes up to a tiny hole in a box by the door. With the help of some mirrors he was able to create a mock peep hole through the window above the front door since there wasn’t a real one.

On the porch was a mailperson, a package tied in string in hand. Their hat was pulled over the majority of their face, but their posture was slouched and enthusiastic. As much as Zayn wanted to avoid human interaction and just play with his animals all day his curiosity won out.

He opened the door, and the pair tried to fake smiles to each other but neither was truly convinced.

“Zayn Malik?” the mail person asked, holding up a clipboard and pen. “Please sign here, got a package for you.”

Zayn nodded, signing quickly and then grabbing hold of the package. It looked rather old, like it was wrapped for a few years and then set aside. There was twine around it and a piece of tape to cover one of the rips. It didn’t fluctuate much in his hand, and by the feel of it it seemed like stacks of papers. He hadn’t gotten proper mail in years, and there was no return address to give him an idea of where it was from. Maybe it was from his parents, sending him paperwork that he had never gone back to collect. 

“Is there a way to track where this is from?” he asked, looking up hopefully.

“Uh, no. If there’s no return address we can’t tell. Sorry, I just deliver stuff.”

Zayn sighed, but he hadn’t really been expecting them to be able to help. 

“Yeah, I get it. Uh, thanks. Have a good day.”

“You, too. Cool snake.”

Zayn whipped his head around, afraid that Nessie had somehow gotten out of her habitat. He remembered then that he’d just moved her from the usual spot so she could get a little more sun. 

“Oh, thanks,” he said with a nervous laugh, closing the door with a nod.

He walked back into the living room then, the dogs and cat looking up to him expectantly.

“Sorry, not for you,” he murmured, the weight of the package heavy in his palms.

Sure, he wanted to know what was in it. But he was also terrified that maybe it really was from his family, maybe they wanted to disown him and didn’t bother to call. Maybe they never wanted to talk to him again, even their monthly Skype calls were too much.

His stomach ached, and the only thing he could think to do was drop the package and get back on the couch for a cuddle.

He could deal with his family later, when he was emotionally ready to do so. Holding the things he loved most and watching Rachel and Ross break up again seemed like a much better option.

\----

Zayn left the package for the rest of the night, promising himself that he would deal with it in the morning. He always tended to put off things that he didn’t want to do until it got dangerous. He was determined not to do that with the package.

However, when he got woken up by Watson barking because he’d had an accident on the floor all thoughts of the package left his brain. 

He didn’t end up thinking about it again until the next week when he was cooking dinner. He had to search the whole kitchen to find the garlic powder, and in the process he accidentally knocked the package down off of the table.

It made a loud thump, and the fish flicked her tail in distress. “It’s okay,” Zayn murmured, bending down to gather the contents. The fall had caused the package to rip slightly, edges of papers sticking out in all directions.

Zayn swallowed thickly, abandoning the stove so that he could sit down and examine the papers. He ran his finger over the writing that he could see, it wasn’t a script that he was familiar with.

He knew he couldn’t wait any longer, so ignoring the butterflies in his stomach he pulled one side of the twine to unravel the bow and carefully tugged the wrapping paper away.

Inside were what looked like legal documents, he could make out a few phrases that seemed to revolve around the ownership of property. He was confused about it all, until he saw a piece of paper on the top of the stack.

Dearest Zayn,

You reading this means that I have passed. I had a lovely life, and I so enjoyed being able to share part of it with you and your family. The times you and your sisters visited were some of my favorites! Remember how we used to read books together in the attic? 

Anyway, your parents told me that you are going to University in London. How lovely! With me gone there is no one to look after the house… perhaps you would like to live in it? I’m leaving my estate in your name. You’re such a bright young boy, I know you’ll do something good with it.

Keep doing great things.

Love, Great Aunt Margie

Zayn’s head started to swirl. His great aunt was dead and she left her house and money in his name. He’d only met her a few times and yes, it was fun, but he didn’t think they were close enough to deserve her home. On top of that, she expected that he was still in Uni. Was it even appropriate for him to accept something under such false pretenses? Then again, his savings were starting to dwindle and paying rent on a two bedroom flat by himself was starting to pile up in his bills, especially considering that he had so many animals to care for.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the smell of chicken burning, and he quickly made his way back to the stove to turn everything off.

He ended up ordering a pizza and laying in bed with everyone piled on top of him, Scoot the snail by his head on his bedstand.

“What am I gonna do?” he whispered to himself, one hand petting Rhino’s head to try and calm himself down. The dog just nuzzled closer to him, and Zayn wasn’t sure if it was for comfort or to try and get closer to the food.

A notification popped up on his phone then, an email from a local housing agency. ‘Meeting- Monday at 9?’ the subject read. With a quick glance he realized that someone wanted to meet with him to discuss the details of the move and his future residency.

Zayn exhaled slowly, sinking deeper into his bed as he took another bite. “Looks like we might be moving,” he whispered to them.

\----

The next morning Zayn showered until the water turned too cold for him to bare. There were too many things for him to think about, his brain jumped from thought to thought before he could even properly process things.

He briefly considered contacting his parents, seeing if they could give him any sort of insight to the situation. He considered not going to the meeting and just ignoring the package all together. He even considered trying to go to a medium to try and get in contact with his great aunt and ask her what she was thinking.

In the end he just sent a frantic ‘call me in an hour’ text Louis and then started to make his way to the estate.

\----

Luckily it was only a ten minute drive from his place, which he was thankful for. He had learned the hard way that Watson wasn’t really suited for car trips, alway tried to be pet at intersections.

When Zayn parked in the long driveway he was hit with a wave of nostalgia. The house was practically the same as it had been years before. The paint was peeling on the sides, and there were a few missing shutters, but overall it was a nice house. 

The doors were framed by large hedges that looked as though they hadn’t been trimmed in months. The grass of the lawn was overgrown and weeds sprouted across it. There were three stories to the house, each covered with large windows.

Zayn remembered running through the yard, learning to ride his bike and giggling with his sisters. He could still faintly smell the summer breeze and hear the sound of his cousins yelling to each other. 

He closed his eyes, experiencing a rare moment where he remembered his family fondly.

“Mr. Malik?” a voice called, ripping him from his thoughts. His eyes flew open and he whipped around to face where the voice had come from.

Exiting from the house was a young man, around the same age as Zayn. He wore a button up shirt and dress pants, obviously trying to seem professional but still relatable. On his wrist was a luxury watch, the kind that Zayn would have to save up for a year to even consider buying. His hair was styled back and he had a bit of stubble. Overall, he was the type Zayn would stare at from across the bar and wish he had the nerve to start a conversation.

“Mr. Malik…?” the man repeated, an eyebrow raised as he took a small step closer.

“Uh, yes. That’s me. Mr. Malik. Well, Zayn. Mr. Malik is weird,” Zayn said in a rush. He always seemed to get flustered around cute people.

Luckily the man chuckled and extended his hand, which Zayn shook quickly. He had a firm handshake and an even more blinding smile.

“I’m Liam Payne, the realtor that your great aunt hired before her passing. My apologies, by the way.”

“It’s fine. Weren’t really close,” Zayn replied honestly.  
“Right. Well, follow me inside and I can give you a tour of the house. Then we can discuss all of the legal stuff.”

Zayn nodded, and after an awkward pause they were on their way through the house.

\----

The house was bigger than Zayn remembered it being, possibly because there were a lot of spaces that he wasn’t allowed to enter as a child. As it turned out, his great aunt was quite the fan of antiques. There were three rooms dedicated to displaying all of them, each room with a different theme. He worried about the dogs running through the rooms or the cats batting at different objects to test them out. He decided that the third floor would be best kept off limits for them, too.

The second floor held only bedrooms, enough for Zayn to have Louis and Harry over and for him to become friends with four other people that could then spend the night. The first floor had common rooms, and the basement was spacious enough to give him plenty of room to work on new inventions and store all of his supplies. 

Overall, it was the perfect place for him to live, invent, and father NUMBER pets.

“So what do you think?” Liam asked once they were done with the tour, ending in the kitchen for a glass of water.

“I think it’s perfect,” Zayn replied.

“There are a few maintenance issues to take care of, but I’m sure that cost will balance out after a few months since you won’t be paying actual rent.”

The thought of no rent alone was enough for Zayn to start signing the paperwork.

“Alright, here’s the boring stuff. I need to go over all of the rules with you. I’ll give you the jist, but you’ll be responsible for actually reading it.”

Zayn laughed, as if he’d ever read the terms and conditions in his life. The pair moved to sit at the kitchen table, he was careful to not sit too close because he wasn’t sure he could handle them accidentally touching.

“The thing to know about this neighborhood is that there is a pretty strict neighborhood board. Think… soccer moms who are now grandmas and want to micromanage everything about other people’s lives.”

Zayn nodded slowly, looking down at the list of rules that Liam had handed to him. There seemed to be a few standard things, like no adding extra structures without contacting the board. But there were strange ones, too. He wasn’t allowed to paint the shutters of the house anything but beige, and only certain types of flowers were allowed to be planted in the yard.

“The big points are that you can’t have a baby without contacting the board first.”

“Really?” Zayn asked, scoffing at the thought. “You were right, they are strict.”

“Unfortunately, yeah. And you can’t have any pets other than a fish.”

Zayn froze. He couldn’t live somewhere without his pets. They were his life, his friends and his family. They were there for him when he needed them, listened to him complain and cheered him up when he needed them. Each one of them impacted his life so much, there was no way that he could give them up.

“Oh. Shit,” he began.

Then he remembered his bank account. There was no way he could maintain the lifestyle he needed to take care of all of them and keep paying rent. He needed the house, no matter what. And if that meant hiding his animals from a bunch of old white women, then so be it.

“Everything okay?” Liam asked, holding out the pen for Zayn to sign.

“Um, yeah. Just… guess I won’t be adopting a cat soon like I was hoping,” Zayn lied. He hoped the cats wouldn’t sense it on him when he walked back into the house.

“Sorry, but it’ll be worth it,” Liam assured with the same bright smile as before.

Zayn took a deep breath and signed where he was told, his hand shaking just slightly. “I sure hope so,” he murmured.

\----

By the third week of living in the new house everything was finally starting to settle. The dogs learned where they could and couldn’t go, the cat found the perfect spots to sunbathe in, and the others were adjusted to their new living spaces.

Zayn probably took the longest to get used to it all. He had more space which he loved, but it was sometimes hard to keep hiding the fact that he had nine animals living with him. He installed a large fence around the backyard that was tall enough to keep anyone from looking in. The dogs could still run around, but every so often they would bark and Zayn felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest. 

One morning he woke up to find a missed call from Liam and a text waiting for him. ‘Hey, I need to come by to have you fill out some more paperwork. Is 2 good?’ the message read. 

Zayn scrambled then, he was pretty sure he’d never moved so fast in his life. He put Nessie and Scoot in the third floor to try and keep them out of sight, and he some how convinced the cat to stay in his bedroom. The dogs were the hardest part, but finally he got Watson to take a nap while Hatchi and Rhino chewed on toys.

The last thing he needed was for Liam to come in and find out that he’d been violating the terms of his stay.

With the help of a few different contraptions he’d set up he was able to clean the rest of the house in a few hours. He picked up all the dog toys, hid the litter box and shoved the mice to the back of the freezer. 

Halfway through getting drool off of a window there was a knock on the door. Zayn dropped his towel and looked around frantically before he kicked it under the couch.

“Shit,” he repeated with every step as he walked to the door. He tried to force himself to calm down and smile as he opened it.

“Hey, Z,” Liam greeted.

Zayn’s eyes dragged over Liam’s body and he tried to ignored the dip of his stomach. The man looked much more casual than their first meeting. He still had his luxury watch on, but it was paired with a loose t-shirt and jeans. Somehow he still looked incredible, even in such a lazy outfit.

“Um, hi,” Zayn replied with a shy smile, motioning for Liam to enter.  
They made their way through the house into the kitchen because there was the most space there.

“You have a lot of… stuff hanging,” Liam commented, eye roaming over all of the inventions that Zayn had set up.

“Yeah,” Zayn said with a shrug. “Was always into inventing. It helps out with cooking and cleaning since there are so many of us living here.”

Liam laughed at that, and Zayn was about to ask what was so funny until he realized his mistake. There was only supposed to be one person living in the house, not one person and NUMBER animals. He let out a nervous laugh and hoped that it seemed genuine enough.

“You’ve been cleaning?” Liam asked then, pointing to Zayn’s jumper that was covered in cat hair.

Zayn blinked a few times, not sure how to explain all of the hair on him. “Uh, yeah. Got a big shag rug that sheds a lot so it’s a bit of a mess,” he lied again.

“Right. Well, here are the papers, if you could read over them.”

Zayn nodded, taking the papers from Liam and leaning over the counter to read them. After a few moments he sighed, propping himself on the counter with his elbows.

“These are too many words for me to read sober,” he admitted, moving to the fridge to open it. “Want a beer? Are you allowed to drink with clients?”

“Don’t think there’s a formal rule about it,” Liam replied, making his way over to stand by the fridge. They were so close their shoulders almost bumped together, and Zayn almost took a step over so they would. “What’ve you got? Wait, is that cat food?” 

Zayn fought the urge to slam the fridge door shut right then. For some reason his brain went into autopilot and he just nodded. “Yeah. I, uh… it makes for a nice snack.”

He realized he could have stopped there, but before he knew it he was pulling out the can and opening it, grabbing a spoon and forcing it down his throat. “Yum,” he said with a faint smile.

He could see the confusion in Liam’s eyes, the way his brows furrowed together at the sight. “Uh, I guess I’ll try some?” the man offered.  
Zayn felt faint, he couldn’t believe that Liam was actually offering to eat cat food just because he had said that it was good to eat.

“Right. Go ahead,” Zayn said, filling up the spoon again and handing it to Liam. His hand was only shaking slightly.

Liam paused and then took the spoon, closing his eyes and placing it in his mouth. He made a quiet gagging sound, and Zayn almost blurtted out that the whole thing was fake, he felt so bad.

“I guess it’s… interesting?” Liam finally said, placing the spoon down on the counter. “Just not really my thing.”

Zayn nodded, blushing as he closed the container again and put it back in the fridge. “It’s not for everyone,” he agreed as he pulled out two beers.

“Come on, you can wash it down while I read,” he offered, leading them to the living room.

\----

The spent half an hour in silence, Zayn reading over the document and Liam replying to emails on his phone. It was comfortable, the two of them on opposite ends of the couch sharing one large blanket.

Zayn was almost positive he was imagining things, but every so often he felt Liam glance up to him and stare for a bit. Either way it made his heart pound and his head race. Some of the words he just skimmed over, too caught up in the fact that only a few feet from him was one of the most gorgeous men he’d ever seen.

“Don’t usually like this brand,” Liam commented, taking a long sip of his beer.

Zayn hummed in response, glancing over to the man and trying not to let his blush show. “My old roommate showed it to me,” he explained.

There was another long pause.

“Are you close to your family?” Liam asked.

Zayn froze. He considered lying, or at least avoiding telling the truth. He hated the thought of people pitying him because of his situation, telling him lies about how things would get better one day.

“Not really,” he murmured with a forced smile in Liam’s direction before he faked reading the papers again. “They, uh… got really mad at me when I told them I dropped out of Uni. They feel like I’m wasting my life inventing things and working in the pet store.” he tried to seem as casual as possible about it, to act like the words didn’t make him break inside.

“I’m sorry,” Liam replied, and Zayn suddenly realized that their thighs were almost touching they were sitting so close together. “I understand not wanting to disappoint your family, though.”

Zayn placed the papers in his lap then, turning so that he was facing Liam.

Liam finished off his beer and then set it down, resting his head on the back of the couch as he looked at Zayn.

“This is actually the first house I’ve ever sold,” he admitted.

Zayn briefly wondered if he should have read over the packet more carefully to search for mistakes.

“My dad is the one that runs the agency I work for. He hired me right after I graduated, and he’s finally trusting me with my own case. I’m a little worried I’m going to fuck it all up.” Liam shrugged, looking down at his hands in his lap.

Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was the slight fear Zayn still had about one of his pets running down the stairs to ruin the moment. He reached out for Liam’s hand and held it tightly in his own, offering the man an encouraging smile.

“I’m worried you’ll fuck it up, too,” he murmured. They both laughed, and Zayn could have sworn he saw Liam lean in a little.

They were so close to kissing, but suddenly there was a loud crash from above them.

“Shit,” Zayn exclaimed, jumping up from the couch and running toward the staircase. Someone must have knocked over a vase or something in one of the rooms.

“What was that?” Liam asked, standing up, too.

“Um, I think I left a window open. The wind must have knocked something over. I’ll go check.”

“Here, I’ll come with you.”

“No!” Zayn exclaimed. He couldn’t have Liam finding out the truth. He didn’t want to lose Liam and the house at the same time. “I mean… just wait here.”

He sprinted up the stairs and didn’t even bother to wait for Liam’s reaction.

It turned out Watson woke up and got too excited, causing one of Zayn’s art easels in his room to fall. He got the dogs calmed down again and everything sorted. After a few minutes of pets he made his way back down the stairs to see Liam again.

“Hey, sorry it was-” Zayn began before stopping himself. Liam was gone, but on the table lay a small post-it.

‘sorry , had to run. I’ll be back tomorrow at 11 to pick up the signed papers’ it read.

“Shit,” Zayn muttered to himself. He half expected to find another stray animal on his doorstep then.

\----

The next morning Zayn just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as he remembered the previous night. He felt awful about letting Liam down, and he really wished he could just go back and time and have a chance to kiss the man. Or at least not run away from him and make him leave.

He let Hatchi and Rhino climb over him, while Meredith meowed by the door to ask to be fed. He finally pulled himself out of bed and shuffled downstairs, noticing it was only ten minutes until Liam said he’d be back to pick up the papers.

“Here, sorry there’s some missing,” he murmured as he put down the cat food and pressed the buttons to release food for the rest of his animals.

He was halfway through making his coffee when he heard a knock on the door.

He answered it and blinked at Liam, who was back to being dressed in a full suit.

“Stopping by on your way to work?” Zayn asked, feeling oddly dressed down in just his sweatpants and distressed t shirt.

“Uh, figured I should be here for the inspection today.”

Zayn’s heart dropped.

“Inspection?” he asked, opening the door a little wider.

“Yeah, with the neighborhood board at three. They’re coming through to make sure you’re following the rules. Didn’t you read that in the papers I gave you?”

Zayn shook his head slowly. There was no way he’d be able to get the house ready for an inspection in just a few hours.

“Any way I can.. Reschedule?”

“Probably not. But don’t worry, not like you’re hiding a dog in here,” Liam said, followed by awkward laugh.

That moment was when Watson decided to run to the front hall and tackle Liam, looking for pets from the stranger.

“Yeah. I’m not just hiding a dog.”

\----

“What the fuck,” Liam exclaimed, taking a step back from Watson and holding his hands in the air. 

“It’s fine, he’s harmless,” Zayn assured, holding onto the dog’s collar to hold him back.

“What else do you have?”

“Um… got three dogs, a cat, a bearded lizard, fish, snake, snail…” he listed, offering Liam a shy smile.

“And they’re just been… living here?” Liam asked, stepping back inside so that he could close the door incase anyone was listening.

Zayn nodded, sitting down on the floor so that he could pet Watson and try to calm him down. “Yeah. I’ve had them all for a while, couldn’t just leave them when I moved in,” he explained. “Please, I can’t get rid of them.”

Liam obviously looked conflicted, but after a moment he dusted off his dress pants and nodded.

“Right, well. I guess I have to help. I really need this sale to impress my dad, and you can’t be living on the street with that many animals.”

Zayn let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in as he stood back up. “Thank you, Liam,” he murmured. “Come on, we can start outside.”

\----

The got to work in the backyard filling holes from where the dogs had dug in in relative silence. Every so often Zayn would glance up and make eye contact with Liam, who still seemed angry about the situation. He let the man cool off some, waiting until they were on the final hole and forced together to actually talk.

“I’m sorry that I lied,” he murmured, as they both shoveled dirt into the Watson-sized hole.

“You could get kicked out. I could be fired,” Liam replied, keeping his gaze down. “If I lose this sale for my dad, he’ll freak out.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that when I accep-”

“I know you weren’t thinking,” Liam said, his tone harsh as he finished the hole and let the shovel fall to the ground. “Where next?”

They started on the top floor then, dusting all of the surfaces for hair and making sure the extra bags of supplies were in a pile to be taken out to Zayn’s car later.

When they were dusting Liam accidentally blew dust into Zayn’s face, causing him spiral into a short coughing fit.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he said, holding back a laugh. “Are you okay?”

Zayn nodded, still coughing slightly. “Yeah, fine.”

There was another long pause before they went back to dusting.

“Look, I’m sorry I said that before,” Liam whispered. “I just… this means a lot.”

“I know.”

“Let’s just get through this visit, okay? We’re here now, nothing can be changed about it.”

“Yeah.”

They moved on to the room where the fish and snail lived, which was simple enough to clean. They just moved the fish into a smaller tank and tried to play off the large aquarium as a decor piece. Zayn moved the snail’s cage into his car, leaving her with enough lettuce to snack on for the inconvenience.

When they got to Nessie’s room it was a bit more challenging.

“You have a snake?” Liam asked, standing frozen in the door frame.

“Yeah,” Zayn replied, already talking to her and coaxing her out of her habitat. “Want to hold her?” he asked, the snake easily wrapping around his neck.

“Mate, that’s terrifying,” Liam said, eyes wide.

“She won’t hurt you,” he promised, taking a step closer. “Come on, trust me.”

Liam hesitated again before he reached out a shaking hand and poked Nessie’s side. He let out a small scream and stepped back as Zayn just laughed.

“She feels… weird.” He felt her for a second time anyway.

Zayn smiled fondly at the pair, his heart fluttering because Liam actually tried petting her.

“I’ll move her downstairs if you can get Arnie, his cage has a handle.”

“Is that another snake?”

“No, he’s a lizard.”

“Good. Two snakes would just be excessive.”

\----

They got the rest of the house ready in time, and even had a few minutes to arrange a plan for the dogs. Zayn knew there was no way that he could get the three of them to stay in the car and not cause a scene. They would give a tour to the board while the dogs were in the basement, and then when they went to check on the basement Liam would sneak the pets up to the top floor where he would wait until the visit was over. He’d joked that as long as he didn’t have to watch the snake everything would be fine.

Zayn was practically shaking in the minutes leading up to the visit. He’d changed into a suit to hopefully impress the board, and Liam.

“It’ll be okay,” Liam murmured, hand brushing down Zayn’s arm. They locked eyes and Zayn was about to reply when there was a loud knock on the door.

“Go time,” Zayn mumbled, forcing a smile as Liam nodded and ran down stairs to tend to the dogs.

When he opened the door he was greeted by three older ladies, all holding clipboards in their hands. He had been expecting a bunch of retired white women ready to tear him apart for every single flaw, and they did not disappoint.

“Um, hi. I’m Zayn Malik. Thank you for coming,” he said, shaking the three of their hands. He found it ironic that he was thanking the people that could potentially rip his life apart.

“Yes, hello. Let’s begin,” one of the women said, foregoing introductions and simple stepping inside.

The whole visit Zayn was on edge. The women would scribble on their clipboards and give each other looks. Sometimes they even opened drawers, and Zayn just hoped they wouldn’t look under his bed and find both his porn stache and the container of dog toys. It was embarrassing enough when Liam stumbled upon it.

Finally they made their way to the basement. Zayn had been sure to make the door squeak on their way in, signaling to Liam that they were on their way down.

He was the first one to enter, and he was able to see just a flash of Watson’s tail going up the second set of stairs. Luckily no one else commented on it, so he assumed they were all safe.

“Alright, that is all we need to see,” one of the women said once they had returned upstairs. “Keep everything like this or notify us thirty days before making changes,” she explained, slamming her pen into the clipboard and leaving the house. The second woman followed her quickly, scowling at Zayn.

The third woman lingered for a moment, giving him a knowing smile. “I also suspected your great aunt broke the rules a bit. She always claimed there were stray cats hanging around this house.” The woman gave him a wink and then turned to exit, as well. “Good thing you aren’t like she was.”

Zayn’s head reeled a bit. One of the board members knew he had pets, but was still keeping his secret. Not only that, but his great aunt had also cared for her own cats. It reassured him in a way, knowing that someone else in his family was like him. He hadn’t felt close to his family in years, but that information finally made him feel like he belonged.

“Are they gone?” Liam yelled down, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Yeah,” Zayn called back with a laugh, watching as Rhino, Hatchi and Watson ran down the stairs, eager for pets after merely an hour apart. “Hi, boys,” he murmured, sitting on the floor so they could climb on him properly.

Liam stood behind them, smiling fondly down at the sight.

“Um, so I was thinking…” he began.

Zayn looked up, eyebrows furrowed together. “What?”

“Well, I’m not allowed to ask out clients. But since you’re technically not my client after passing… maybe we could get dinner?”

\----

That night after he returned to the house to snuggle with his pets and tell them all about the date, including the goodbye kiss on the cheek Liam gave him on the front porch.

After he was done telling his story he heard a scratching at the door. Sitting there on the porch was a fluffy orange cat, staring up at him with wide eyes. Zayn picked her up easily and grinned.

“Welcome to the family,” he said.

He couldn’t wait to see what life change would happen next.

\----

THE END


End file.
